Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-08-01
DEVILS WORK.
Grimes Committed In Pure Ouss. dness of
Human Nature. :
New York 81,

The number of crimes committed in
this country out of what may be termed
! "pure cussedness" is astonishinsly large,
and includes many murders. eThe death
of Charles J. Walton, as mentioned in
CAiclgo papers the other day, recalls the
particulars OF Z crime of thirty yesrs sgo
which made great stir at the time,
bus WHICH cannot now be remembered by
dozen persons. A. the time OF the muir
der Walton was boy eleven years OF
age, snd w6s IL the employ OK farmer
n&mad John Courtwright, il Central Hi
lnois. One rainy day in the fall the two
were shellirg beans III On old barn about
half I mile from the farm house. l. had
come 70 be o'clock il the afternoon
when the farmer, using his knife,
cut Of L piece Of tC5sCco, let It
slip through G crack in the floor.
TIE boy vent outdoors snd CrsWled UE-
der to secure it. Il was close squeeZa
for him, AMI lie had not yet reached tae
spot when ne heard three men enter the
barn. The sound Of their voices proved
them strangers in the neigh5orhood. The
spokesman said they had come to see ii
the f.rmer had horse TO sell He re-
piled that he had not, when one Of the
men laughed Gud said:
"COme, old fellow, we don't want g
horse. We want to see you dance sud
hear you sing"
C0uTtTTight was neither strong nor in
good health, aud he was probably afraid
of the men from the first, as the boy no
ticed that his voice tremblei as ne spoke
BE protested that he could neither sing
nor dance, bat the man VINO spoke before
thsn exclaimed:
"Clve Us song and dance, or Wen
cut your throat"
The farmer must have realized that
they mesnl aim harm, aid he began to
~tbeg and beseech an offer tC buy them off
He had about s in change in his
pocket. and he gave them this,
together with 8 knife and pipe. The
trio had no sooner stopped him than they
armed themselves with some switches
used to drive the oxen and proceeded TO
whip TIE poor man until his screams
seemed likely to be heard a. the highway.
half mile off. Young Walton YVES terri
bly, frightened, and he explained Whg he
did nos 90 fer help by saying:
"There was no one ct cur house but
Mrs. CoUrtwri2h and 40 neighbOr nearer
than g mile end half. As il was raining
|
the road And, too, there was such g
lot OF rubbish under the barn that l could
not move without making gress noise,
and fell that they would certainly hear
, men
, When the farmer began to shout for
help they knocked him down and gagged
him with a handkerchief, and then thea
devilish thirst for blood became more ap-
psrant. One Of them seized the farmers
lelt hand and co0!ly and deliberately
broke every finger in succession. They
pulled of his boots End applied lighted
: matches to the soles of his .eet, ard with
their knives creased the sOlaS in every df.
, rection. They st first seemed to delight
il lis violent struggles, but finally used
, chains and ropes TO tie him down. The
+ man kept up 4 constant grooming, and
! ef.er time the boy was Sc overcome
+ with terror that he could not have moved
2 If he SO desired.
= 'When they had kept up their torture
y for about half 81 hour" be said, "the gag
g icem9 loose, and Mr.. Coartwrisht c0net
! out TO them IN the name OF God to spare
! his life. lie offered them $500 he had il
4 the bank and q deed OF his farm if they
. would let him go, but they only Knocked
+ him. One of them said i. WaS the great
2 est sport he had had il twenty years, anC
: another said he had always wanted to SEE
/ how much u man could suffer before
death came TO relieve him. Most of ths
D time they had their victim gagged, 81
!. that | could not near his voice, except q:
e he kept Up 6 moaning, but sometimes
r when the gag was locsened, he cried anC
- begged Of them in q way TO melt you
9 heart"
a The cutting and slashing OF the farmer
q did not satisfy the cruel natures OF TIE
n tormentors. One of them hsd q muzzle-
: loading pistol and he loaded it with small
e charges Of powder and fred them into thu
e naked body of CourtWrght. AnOthe
;. stuck his legs full OF splinters. These
< two latter modes OF punishment fur
:, nishef the cleW by which the murderer
70 were overhauled. When they!had been q
is their Internal work for nearly an hou
4 they began ID tire OF it. The farmer wa
o in dying condition, ard they finished
Y. him with g knife. The boy heard ever
d word and movement, and he said:
in I heard them talk about finishing IL
Ia old fellow of, and there was quite 8 dis
ar pule as TO who should use the knife. l
is was tiually decided, snd the fellow
! sharpened the blade on his boo
le and then kept thrusting aud countin
St one, two, three, and so on up to six
Il teen, and these were the number counte,
IA or the dead body. I was lying OF IN
10 stomach on the ground last under th
~e body and the warm blood ran throag
4. the cracks on my head and shoulders"
ID AS soon as the trio had lett, the DO
" cra aled ont 10 give the alarm, bu. it ws
IS 9 O'Clock a. night before any considerahl
n number Of men had gathered and tn
,e pursuit was taken up. The men wei
ar tracked TO pOiat north of Pekin, wheg
ce they stole horses from hel
nd AID headed for Monmouth. To Ii
north OF thai place taey stole
team and made for the Mi3sissir!
river, and there ell traces of them wei
lost. It seems that theYStole q snaaty boz
< and stsrted off down the river and vel
en- next heard Of three weeks later ct Il
mouth OF the Illinois river. They tied the
boat to the shore aud Toamed around tt
country in lGwless waY, and one night
farmer shot one Of them Ii the leg as
be was robbing the hen house. The ms
on had pistol and fired back al the tarms
a. and missed. l. was then knocked frol
his grasp, srd as he lay on the ground
rs gritted MS teeth in rage and exclaimed
"You infernal hound, bat how I'd Ill